Boots UK Limited (commonly known as Boots) is a pharmacy chain in the United Kingdom, with outlets in most high streets throughout the country. The company has been a subsidiary of Alliance Boots since 31 July 2006, following the merger of its then-parent Boots Group plc with Alliance UniChem plc, and combines the former Boots the Chemist Ltd. and Boots Stores Ltd.

Boots was established in 1849, by John Boot. After his father's death in 1860, Jesse Boot, aged 10 helped his mother run the family's herbal medicine shop in Nottingham, England. In 1920, Jesse Boot sold the company to the American United Drug Company. However, deteriorating economic circumstances in North America saw Boots sold back into British hands in 1933 with the grandson of the founder, John Boot, who inherited the title Baron Trent from his father, at the head of the Company. In 1968 it acquired the 622-strong Timothy Whites and Taylors Ltd chain.

Boots diversified into the research and manufacturing of drugs with its development of the Ibuprofen painkiller during the 1960s. It was awarded the Queen's Award For Technical Achievement for this in 1987. In 1994, Boots divested production to BASF and later sold the Nurofen brand to Reckitt Benckiser in 2006.

A boot is a type of footwear and a specific type of shoe. Most boots mainly cover the foot and the ankle and extend up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip. Most boots have a heel that is clearly distinguishable from the rest of the sole, even if the two are made of one piece. Traditionally made of leather or rubber, modern boots are made from a variety of materials. Boots are worn both for their functionality – protecting the foot and leg from water, snow, mud or hazards or providing additional ankle support for strenuous activities – and for reasons of style and fashion. High-top athletic shoes are generally not considered boots, even though they do cover the ankle, primarily due to the absence of a distinct heel.

Early boots consisted of separate leggings, soles, and uppers worn together to provide greater ankle protection than shoes or sandals. Around 1000 B.C. these components were more permanently joined to form a single unit that covered the feet and lower leg, often up to the knee. A type of soft leather ankle boots were worn by nomads in eastern Asia, and carried to China to India and Russia around 1200 to 1500 A.D by Mongol invaders. The Inuit and Aleut natives of Alaska developed traditional winter boots of caribou skin or sealskin featuring decorative touches of seal intestine, dog hair and wolverine fur. 17th century European boots were influenced by military styles, featuring thick soles and turnover tops that were originally designed to protect horse mounted soldiers. In the 1700s, distinctive, knee-high boots worn by Hessian soldiers fighting in the American Revolutionary War influenced the development of the iconic heeled cowboy boots worn by cattlemen in the American west.